I have a 1988 Toyota Landcruiser lifted as a rock crawler and on highways there are lots of vibrations and road noise.

I recently installed a Kenwood D710a and an external speaker under the passenger side dash. The dash has a bunch of holes in it as there is an option outside the US to put a speaker there. I thought this would be the best place to put mine.

Turns out when driving that I can barely make out people when there transmissions are coming in weak or garbled.

What have people done to increase their ability to hear ham radios in noisy environments?

A steel panel that is part of the truck is a poor speaker enclosure, especially if it actually does not enclose the speaker. Also, the amount of metal between the speaker and the outside of the dash blocks the sound to a great degree.

You'll find that an enclosure put in front of the dash at the location the speaker is will sound a lot louder and clearer. For a vehicle like yours, however, 'PB's suggestion is probably best.

20 or so years ago, Radio Shack carried a amplified communication speaker. Its about 4" square and has a 4 watt (if memory serves me) built in amp.It made the audio on my mobile 2 meter loud and clear. I wish I had bought a bunch of them.You could try making one and moving the speaker closer to your head.Be careful with placement, if you're offroading and roll, you don't want to smack your melon into the speaker.

The problem with using headphones while mobile is that it blocks out the traffic noise, which may impair your driving ability. I once used a boom mike headset (with VOX on SSB) but it only had one earpiece so I could still hear what was going on around me.

If earphones don't suit, or laws forbid them while driving,you might consider mounting speakers on either / bothsides of your driving position, eg, above head-level, hang-ing from the top, inside the cab.

Be sure to run 2 pairs of audio leads, as if you were wiringup 2 stereo speakers, since TM-710's are dual-receive,so you can use R & L sound sources to indicate whichband & side of the radio (A or B) the caller is on.

Also, on the earlier TM-D700A, the 2 radio sides had noticably different tone characteristics. Maybe switchradio side to try the other tone, ie, if your model alsogives 2 tones, for the 2 speakers, resp.

PS I assume you haven't connected the audios from2 radio sides together, ie, without also changing theaudio setting so that radio is prepared for that wayof connecting speakers...?

I mounted the speaker on the back of the driver's headrest, facing forward betweenthe headrest and the seat. That provides plenty of audio, though it does depend a loton the exact design of your seat. In one case I could just turn the speaker mountingbracket around so it was in the front of the speaker and put it around the post thatholds up the headrest.

Otherwise the approach we used in a Rescue truck was to install a headliner withstereo speakers for the two front seat occupants. We had VHF on one speakerand UHF on the other.

what WB6BYU said - MFJ makes a dandy little extension speaker that goes for about $15, available at HRO stores or mail order.If your headrest sits on two chrome posts, clip the mounting bracket for the speaker in half, reverse the halves, and wrap them around the chrome posts.

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